by Belinda Lui | Jan 26, 2014 | Interactive, Latest
When a business embarks on a site refresh or re-design, one of the key factors to consider is whether search optimization has been implemented in the content that lives on each page. Is the website complicated and busy? Is it intuitive and easy to navigate? While there are many elements to successfully creating a site with search optimization, this post will focus on “busy-ness” and how that may affect your sales:
Using less will give you more when it comes to search optimization.
Consider this as an example:
A recent test was done on MECLABS’ online retail Research Partners and how the team was able to achieve a 10% lift in checkout completion rate by simply removing distracting elements.
The MECLABS team recently ran a test within the checkout pages for an online retailer. The goal of the test was to increase the checkout completion rate. The team identified a number of elements causing friction within the checkout pages and likely distracting visitors from completing the checkout process. The most drastic change was removing the static navigation bars (left and top navigation) from the checkout pages.
This removed visually distracting elements from the pages as well as deleted possible exit points for visitors, keeping visitors focused on proceeding through the checkout process.
The team also took out a page within the checkout process that was simply confirming the visitor had created an account.
This step was unnecessary and forced visitors to make one extra click to proceed through the funnel, giving them an additional opportunity to abandon the funnel, and again, distracted them from the goal of the checkout pages.
By simply removing friction-causing elements from the checkout pages, the team was able to increase the checkout completion rate by 10%, which turned out to be a 19.95% increase in revenue per visit to the checkout process.
When implementing search optimization to your website, you should evaluate each page element and consider whether it is helping the goal of your site or distracting visitors. Any potentially distracting element is an opportunity to test how your pages perform with those elements removed.
Always remember that less is more when it comes to your website. Keep your pages focused and remove any elements that prevent visitors from completing your goals for the site, such as completing a checkout.
by Belinda Lui | Jan 23, 2014 | Advertising, Latest
When companies spend $4 million on a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl — it only makes sense that they would also present teasers in the weeks leading up to the celebrated event to take place next weekend. The Super Bowl is exciting for football fans but it is equally as exciting for marketers and advertisers alike. Reinforcing the promotion of these advertisements with hashtags such as #fuelyourpleasure for Oikos Greek Yogurt ads featuring some of the cast from the hit-show Full House is only one of the ways that brands are building awareness amongst its community. You can preview some of these Super Bowl teasers on YouTube’s Ad Blitz channel.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was reportedly paid $3 million to appear in Bud Light ads during the Super Bowl. He is among many other celebrities who will make appearances in advertisements this year. While celebrity endorsements is nothing new to the advertising world, it continues to appeal to customers in ways they otherwise might not without them.
Still, Social Media is a major element in the marketing and advertising worlds today — and one method of tracking the success of an advertisement is how often a teaser video was shared, liked, or commented on. Statistics have shown that the engagement levels of Super Bowl ad teasers in 2013 more than doubled that of 2012. Talk about return on investment!
With that said, here are some of our favourite Super Bowl ads this year:
1. Volkswagen
2. Bud Light – with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Don Cheadle
3. Oikos
4. TurboTax
Oikos tapped into viewers’ nostalgia by using John Stamos, Dave Coulier, and Bob Saget as celebrity appearances. All of us who grew up watching Full House can relate to the familial support and greatness that was Uncle Jesse, humorous Uncle Joey, and the single father Danny Tanner. Great choice, Oikos!
What are some of your favourite Super Bowl ads (past or present)?
by Belinda Lui | Jan 21, 2014 | Interactive, Latest
The definition of retail space has altered over the last decade. It’s not a new trend for retailers to take their retail space and promotions to the online realm — for larger retailers, e-commerce is just a reinforcement to their physical plan-o-grams. What does this mean for smaller, more independent retailers, though? When a choice has to be made between spending hard-earned money on a physical retail space or marketing to the online world, which option would garner greater returns?
Let’s consider the pros and cons of physical retail space and e-commerce:
Physical Retail Space:
Pros: There is still a vast demographic that is not digitally savvy or prefer to do their shopping offline. Having a physical retail space will enable this demographic to continue their patronage to your brand. Customer service will still have a personal touch to it given that you would be present at the store greeting them face-to-face.
Cons: Property costs – Above and beyond paying the monthly bills of your lease or mortgage, you also need to consider the cost of storing inventory. Shelf space is also valuable real estate when you consider the return on each square footage. If an item is less visible or unappealing to customers, it takes up room from merchandise that might otherwise be more successful. Customer service is also key when you have a physical retail space.
E-Commerce:
Pros: Not only can you appeal to a much wider demographic, but you can do it at a much lower cost. Start-up costs for a fully functional e-commerce site can be hefty, but the upkeep — should you choose a relatively simple back-end management system — will be significantly less than that of a physical retail space. Your approach to servicing customers will change a bit, but the principles and client relationship management (CRM) should remain the same.
Cons: Competition is fierce in general but even more so online. You are no longer competing with retailers in your area but with brands across the globe (especially those that offer worldwide shipping). You miss out on the demographic that still prefers to shop offline or are wary of purchasing products that don’t allow for an easy return if the merchandise does not fit.
These are just a few pros and cons between physical retail space and e-commerce. Can you think of some more?
by Belinda Lui | Jan 11, 2014 | Latest, Social Media
Business blogging, or what has now been coined as content marketing, has increasingly become a good source of networking for businesses. As I sit here, ready to write my first blog post of 2014, I am aware of how difficult it is to constantly provide valuable information that will be relevant for 3H’s target audience and potential business partners.
The 3Hhoopla Blog and content generation was our priority for the year 2013. We have achieved a visibility among peers and that was no easy task. Creating content was at the forefront of our initiatives as was leveraging that content on our Facebook Page and Twitter community…. and more specifically our LinkedIn group. This took time and effort, but well worth both.
Here are some good business blogging blockbusters that have enabled us to overcome the forever blinking cursor waiting for the start of a thought! Hope these help!
Be mindful:
Be ready to note ideas… anywhere… anytime. It used to be that you needed a pen and notepad by your bed, just in case you had a great idea. Not so today. Mobile devices and the ease of note-taking has never been easier. Be prepared and open to see anything from a conversation to a client question to an internal discussion with colleagues as material for blog content. Be prepared to also capture those thoughts somewhere…anywhere for future reference.
Develop a process:
It’s important to develop a process in which you prepare yourself to write. Writing isn’t easy for everyone… so why make it any harder? Create an environment which you will be able to get down and write with limited amount of interruption. Yes, this does sound like meditation and in fact, I do believe it is. Once you create a process and environment which you initiate a few times, your mind will be aware of the cues, making it easier for you to focus and write.
Create thought paragraphs:
When you do start writing, allow yourself to go off on tangents.I know this goes against many other recommendations: you definitely need to establish the premise of your content, however, sometimes by letting go and writing instinctively, a blog post will write itself. Create what I term to be “thought paragraphs”. Thanks to technology, it’s easy to copy and paste and juggle thought statements to develop a cohesive blog post.
Checklist your keywords:
Content creation for brands and businesses must be focused. It’s not just about writing. It’s about establishing your business, brand or product on the horizon of the internet. It’s about getting found. Establish your basic premise and focus on the keywords that speak to the basic premise of your business. List them and always go back to these words and create a list of secondary keywords that are relevant to the primary keywords. This will enable you to establish a checklist to evaluate each blog post to make sure that they build on your overall content marketing strategy.
Hopefully these tips will be handy for your business content in 2014!
by Belinda Lui | Jan 9, 2014 | Latest, Social Media
A Social Strategy is one that every business should implement — given that we’re well into the digital age, it would be a bad business choice to rule out altogether. Given that you do decide to approach the Social Strategy challenge, there are aspects to every platform that you should consider. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula to promoting product or services online. So before you do, take a look at these 8 statistics on social media platforms:
To create a successful Social Strategy, consider these 8 statistics on Social Media:
1. THE FASTEST GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC ON TWITTER IS THE 55–64 YEAR AGE BRACKET.
This demographic has grown 79% since 2012. This is especially important to consider since the prevailing idea that social media is “just for teenagers” is clearly no longer the case. It certainly points to the importance of having a solid social media strategy if these age brackets fit into your target demographic.
2. 189 MILLION OF FACEBOOK’S USERS ARE “MOBILE ONLY”
There are probably more users accessing Facebook from their mobile device than you thought. Consider this fact when you’re creating an ad or content and how it might be viewed in this manner. Mobile use generates 30% of Facebook’s ad revenue.
3. YOUTUBE REACHES MORE U.S. ADULTS AGED 18–34 THAN ANY CABLE NETWORK
Did you think TV was the best way to reach the masses? Well if you’re after the 18–34 year old demographic in the U.S., you’ll have more luck reaching them through YouTube. Of course, one video won’t necessarily reach more viewers than a cable network could, but utilizing a platform with such a wide user base makes a lot of sense.
4. EVERY SECOND TWO NEW MEMBERS JOIN LINKEDIN
LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, continues to grow every second. From groups to blogs to job listings, this platform is a rich source of information and conversation for professionals who want to connect to others in their industry.
5. LINKEDIN HAS A LOWER PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE USERS THAN PINTEREST, GOOGLE+, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK
Although LinkedIn has a fast growing network of new users, they are also less active than their social media counterparts. Consider hosting contests and surveys on sites like Facebook and Twitter and your news-related content for LinkedIn.
6. 93% OF MARKETERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS
There is reportedly only 7% of Marketers that aren’t using Social Media for their business. If you’re a part of that statistic, it might be time to hop on the Social Strategy bandwagon!
7. 25% OF SMARTPHONE OWNERS AGES 18–44 SAY THEY CAN’T RECALL THE LAST TIME THEIR SMARTPHONE WASN’T NEXT TO THEM
This means that at least 25% of smartphone owners are pretty much always connected. You can reach them through various platforms at any time of the day.
8. EVEN THOUGH 62% OF MARKETERS BLOG OR PLAN TO BLOG IN 2014, ONLY 9% OF US MARKETING COMPANIES EMPLOY A FULL-TIME BLOGGER
Blogging is clearly a big focus for marketers who want to take advantage of social media and content marketing. This is great, because blogging for your business has lots of advantages: you can control your company blog, you can set the tone and use it to market your product, share company news or provide interesting information for your customers. With only 9% of marketing companies hiring bloggers full-time, however, the pressure to produce high-quality content consistently will be a lot higher.
(Information from: Fast Company)
